MaryS-333 Reviews

The Grand Seduction (2013)

Eclectic cast brings silly comedy to life

[7/10 · 12 July 2014]

In the Grand Seduction, directed by Don McKeller, a big city doctor finds himself out of his element in a remote Newfoundland village that is filled with unusual characters. One might expect such a film to be a cross between "Northern Exposure" and "The Shipping News," but it proved to be nothing like either.

The small harbor village of Tickle Head, Newfoundland, needs a doctor. The town leaders want to secure a contract for a petroleum byproduct re-purposing plant, but the petroleum corporation has told them that they will not build the factory unless the town can prove it has a doctor. The fishing has dried up and there are no jobs for Tickle Headers. The townspeople need the petroleum factory to get off welfare and regain their dignity. However, what doctor in his right mind would want to live in Tickle Head?

The former mayor of Tickle Head, who takes a job in the Canadian equivalent of the TSA, finds cocaine in the luggage of young man, played by Taylor Kitsch (Friday Night Lights). As luck would have it, the man happens to be a recently minted plastic surgeon. The former mayor lets him slide in exchange for a stint as the town doctor of Tickle Head.

Dr. Lewis is to stay long enough in Tickle Head to convince the corporate bigwigs at the petroleum company that he is legitimate - yet he has no knowledge of the scheme. Meanwhile, the Tickle Headers will resort to all manner of covert shenanigans to convince Dr. Lewis that he wants to stay.

Beautifully filmed and well-acted, this rollicking comedy entertains and ends on a positive note. Brendan Gleeson and Gordon Pinsent give excellent performances as a couple of grizzled old fishermen who love their town and will do anything to save it.

While the plot is fairly basic and the message weak, if you're looking for a good mindless comedy that provides lots of laughs, this one is for you.

Layover (I) (2014)

Beautiful French woman meets a mysterious motorcyclist while on a layover in Los Angeles.

[6/10 · 12 July 2014]

I attended the world premier of Layover at the Seattle International Film Festival after receiving a personal invitation via social media from the star of the film, Karl E. Lander, an astonishingly beautiful Frenchman making his American feature film debut.

I nearly walked out after becoming dizzy from the hand-held camera-work, in which we followed the female lead, Simone, played by Nathalie Fay (The Hangover), for a tiresome interval as she disembarked her plane, walked though LAX, took a cab ride, and seemingly navigated the entirety of an airport hotel. However, I remained in my seat, since Lander had not yet appeared on screen.

Layover is a film about a French woman (Fay) who is traveling to Singapore to meet her fiancé. When her connecting flight is canceled, the airline puts her up in a hotel and she is forced to spend twelve hours in Los Angeles. Jet-lagged and unable to sleep, she calls an old friend with whom she has been estranged for some years.

The two go clubbing downtown, and when her friend leaves her stranded at the club, she accepts a ride from a mysterious motorcyclist (Lander)—who happens to be French—that leads to an unexpected adventure and a question that Simone must answer for herself before boarding her 7:30 a.m. flight.

The film's director (Joshua Caldwell) and producer (Travis Oberlander) were in attendance at the premier, as were actors Fay and Lander. I was underwhelmed by the film until I learned that it was produced for a mere $6,000—nearly an impossible feat—and was shot in only 11 days, using gorilla filming techniques. Bearing that in mind, I was quite impressed, considering I have seen multimillion-dollar blockbusters that I liked much less.

Caldwell informed us that this was the first in a trilogy of films to be set at LAX. The second film is to be named Assassin and the third, X. Lander and Fay will star in the next film, as well.

Overall, this was a decent debut feature by Caldwell, and you should go see it, if for no other reason, than because Nathalie Fay and Karl E. Lander are destined to be huge stars.

Little Accidents (2014)

Coal mining disaster survivor struggles to find his way.

[8/10 · 12 July 2014]

I wasn't planning to attend Little Accidents when it screened at the Seattle International Film Festival. With 450 films from which to choose, a film about a coal mining disaster sounded depressing. However, when I was sent a free pass from SIFF, I went anyway.

Not only was I was pleasantly surprised by Sara Colangelo's debut feature film, I was moved by it. Little Accidents is the type of film that stays with you long after the lights come up.

Although it is a coal mine disaster that sets the events of the film in motion, the action begins months after the accident, as Amos Jenkins (Boyd Holbrook) returns to his life in the small West Virginia town after convalescing from injuries that he sustained in the accident. He is the sole survivor.

Life is anything but normal as Amos finds himself torn between telling the truth about the cause of the accident, and keeping his mouth shut, which will dishonor his ten friends who died. If he testifies that management's cost-cutting decisions led to the disaster, the mine will be closed and his friends and family will be left without any way to feed their families.

Just as the town is beginning to deal with the loss of the miners, the son of one of the mine's managers (Josh Lucas) goes missing. Is it retaliation or a freak accident? Young Owen, played by Jacob Loftland (Mud), who is the son of a killed miner, has the answer, but he deals with his own struggle to reveal the truth.

The character-driven film follows the seemingly parallel story lines of Amos, Owen and Diane Doyle (Elizabeth Banks), the mother of the missing boy, but eventually the parallel lives begin to intertwine as they find themselves connected by fate.

The performances by everyone in this film, especially Holbrook and Loftland, are superb. A touching scene between Amos and Diane outside a convenience store nearly left me in tears.

Although I felt the relationship between Amos and Dianne could have been developed further, I was fully satisfied by the completion of the plot lines and left feeling blown away by the entire experience, which was enhanced by the attendance of the director, Colangelo.

Colangelo directed a 2010 short by the same name, which deals with issues of the working class. She wanted to set the expanded feature film in a mining community, after being moved by so many recent coal-mining accidents that she was unable to get off her mind.

One interesting piece of information that Colangelo provided was that the movie was shot in 24 days and entirely in film, in order to capture the grittiness of the subject matter. Kodak donated half of the film.

Little Accidents isn't so much a film about a coal mining disaster as it is a film about loss and how we choose to deal with the tragic events that occur in our lives. Of all the films I saw at SIFF this year, this is my favorite.

The film is set to be released in January 2015. Go see it!

4 Minute Mile (2014)

4 Minute Mile Wows Audiences at the Seattle International Film Festival

[7/10 · 16 June 2014]

I attended the world premier of 4 Minute Mile, directed by Charles-Olivier Michaud, at the Seattle International Film Festival. I chose to see the film, not only because it was filmed in Seattle, but also because the storyline sounded compelling. The film proved to be more than compelling; it was shocking, gritty, and suspenseful.

A 4 minute mile is difficult for a runner to achieve. Anything is difficult when you lost your father as a child, live in poverty, and have a brother who uses you for illegal drug runs. It's understandable why high school runner Drew Jacobs (Kelly Blatz) has a chip on his shoulder, but he must overcome his anger if he wants to run the mile in under four minutes and receive a scholarship, and more importantly, escape the fate that has befallen his brother.

After being kicked off the track team for having a poor attitude, Drew seems to be spiraling downward, until his neighbor (Richard Jenkins), a former track coach who is struggling with his own demons, mentors him. The two form a special bond and fill a void in each other's heart.

Excellent performances are given by Jenkins, Kim Basinger and Cam Gigandet, but the real surprise is newcomer Kelly Blatz. Virtually unknown, unlike the other actors who were up for the part, Blatz wowed Michaud and the casting director, who decided to take a chance on him, after receiving a very raw, emotional post-screen-test email from Blatz, which brought them to tears.

Although the running sequences didn't make sense geographically to anyone familiar with the Seattle area, it was fun to see familiar sights such as Safeco Field, Garfield High School, and Fisherman's Terminal.

According to the director, the film is a metaphor for how you should live your life: Commit yourself.

4 Minute Mile is available July 1 on iTunes and On Demand, and is in theaters August 1.

This review was originally published on Yahoo! Voices: http://voices.yahoo.com/movie- review-4-minute-mile-2014-12693420.html?cat=40